


Star Wars the Clone Wars: A Galaxy Under Threat

by RedNovember



Category: Star Wars: The Clone Wars (2008) - All Media Types
Genre: Alcohol, Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Alternate Universe, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Alternate Universe - Dark, Awkward Flirting, Biological Weapons, Dark, Death, Deviates From Canon, Explicit Language, F/M, Falling In Love, Flirting, Hatred, Intoxication, Love, Major Original Character(s), Manipulation, Original Character(s), Pain, Past Alcohol Abuse/Alcoholism, Past Torture, Psychological Horror, Psychological Torture, Self-Hatred, Slavery, Torture, War
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-06-19
Updated: 2017-12-02
Packaged: 2018-11-16 04:56:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 10,017
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11246763
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RedNovember/pseuds/RedNovember
Summary: An Alternate Universe where, instead of after the Galactic Civil War, the Yuuzhan Vong invade during the Clone Wars, forcing the Republic and Separatists to realize that they have a new, common, enemy. Can the two factions unite to defend the Galaxy? What's more, can the Jedi unite with the Sith to defeat an enemy dedicated to wiping both out? Or will mutual mistrust end this alliance before it even begins?





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> A/N: Heyo my somewhat judgy humands. It is I, RedNovember. This fic is kinda out there, just by the idea. So I figured, what the kriff. Let’s go all the way. So do NOT expect to stick to Legacy or Canon storyline. (I intend for some major blowback on this. So whatever.) Be prepared for major deviance from any “official” storyline. But in truth, I view all fanfiction as somewhat official. I mean, if 50 Shades of Grey can go from fanfic of Twilight to a multi-billion dollar enterprise. Why the heck can’t fanfic be “official.” Also, for all intents and purposes, the Temple bombings never happened. CAUSE PLOT. Final note, I’m also a HUGE fan of Warhammer, so I might add a few nods to the series within this. Whoever manages to guess where these little tidbits (I say little, not so much little) are gets brownie points and a spot in the A/N of the next chapter. See? I can be “encouraging/bribing.” With that said, enjoy the Story. *Yells to the gremlins behind the scenes* ROLL FILM! ;D

At first, the scanners dismissed it as a large asteroid field or a moon that had been obliterated by a  
star’s gravitational pull. This lasted all of three days, at which point the scanners realized the error  
they had made. But it was too late. No one expected it, they came bearing horrors and death,  
slow and painful. Whole cities were laid waste in the span of hours. Those that didn’t die in the  
beginning wave soon died to the hunters that followed. Their desperate cries for help reached the  
Separatist headquarters too late.

By the time a Separatist flight arrived, all that was left of Gelda  
was, by all appearances, a smoking, dead world. The admiral, a capable, if somewhat dim-witted,  
Zabrak named Tyrral Kantale at first assumed that the planet was simply burning, a serious issue  
by itself, but a much more easily controlled problem, and that the hurried and desperate messages  
simply were a way to bring a relief force. But as the closed on the planet, this quickly proved to not  
be the issue. 

The planet wasn’t burning, it was changing. Every aspect of it, the atmosphere was  
becoming more like a tropical atmosphere, changing from a fairly cold and dry planet to a hot,  
humid tropical world. 

Then came the first worldship. Larger than any ship the admiral had seen before. It bore no markings that he could identify and, in fact, it appeared as though there were no markings on it. At least, no artificial markings. It was then that they started firing. 

At first, he thought that they were going through superheated debris, but then came the first targeted blow. That cleared up whether they were friend or foe. “All ships! Raise shield and fire for effect! Show these upstarts what happens when they attack a Separatist world!” 

With that, the two Recusant-class destroyers, his own command Munificent-frigate, the Atlas Spark, and the flight’s various patrol craft opened fire on these unknown hostiles. Volley after volley of turbolaser fire and smaller anti-fighter guns opened upon this massive beast of a ship. It did little to no visual damage. The flak blew off several tendrils located on the sides of the vessel, but the main body of the thing remained intact and moving. It simply shrugged off any oncoming fire, including the barrage of missiles they sent its way. 

Right off the get-go, he realized his mistake. Engaging them meant that he had committed to the battle and now he saw that it wasn’t just the singular ship, but hundreds of craft docked to it. He wasn’t concerned at first with these ships, he assumed that he had caught them unaware. But then, ship-board scanners started going off. En masse. These smaller ships that had previously been “docked” were “undocking,” if that was the term that could be used to describe it. They were soon charging the little separatist flight going much faster than they thought even possible. 

“All guns! Target those forward craft! Blow them back to where they came from! We are the Confederacy! We shall prevail!” Yelled Admiral Tyrral, valiant to the very end. The droids manning the bridge let out an affirmative response. 

It was the last thing he heard. A veritable wall of molten magma, shot from the oncoming ships, somehow all at once, hit the front of the command-cruiser, smashing its way through it, before finally hitting the bridge. The shields that had been raised at full strength only moments ago, simply vanished under the onslaught of magma, rock, and masses of superheated metal. 

The guns of the Recusants fell silent for a moment. Then, silent in the vacuum of space, the Atlas Spark exploded. Massive chunks of debris flew everywhere and caused a massive debris field to form. 

This proved to be enough for the remainder of the flight. They quickly turned and attempted to flee. The proved to be its final, fatal, mistake. As they turned, the shields of the Recusants took a battering from localized debris, combined with the flak from the oncoming storm of ships, the shields soon overloaded. Then they were decimated. The engines and lower crew decks were the first to go. Venting both crewmen and droids into space. Then as the power started to overload, munitions burned, and the ships’ structure failed, the final two capital ships of the flight were gone. The blastwave from it blew both friend and foe away from it. This was what saved the survivors and deterred the unknown ships from chasing. Whatever smaller craft remained quickly reformed and escaped from the dead system. Their captains fleeing to safer territory and larger fleets. The news of this skirmish would soon reach the loftiest ears of the Confederacy. Darth Tyrannus himself.  
This was the first battle of the new war. The Massacre of Gelda, as it was called later. It would be the first of many to come. For both the Republic and the Separatists, it would mean the dawning of a new age. An age where both sides would have to put aside their grievances to ensure that the galaxy would still be around to fight over.

Meanwhile, on the planet of Serreno, Count Dooku meditated over recent developments in the war and awaited his master’s call. As he did so, a B1 approached him, as nervous as a droid can be. “Master? I bring a call from General Grievous.. He says it’s urge- GAAH!” Dooku, in a fit of annoyance force-crushed it, smashing it into little more than scrap metal. 

His slightly-angry glare only intensified as General Grievous appeared on the large holocommunicator. “My lord. I have news that requires your attention.” He wheezed out, coughing every so often. Dooku’s annoyance quickly vanished as he saw Grievous’s posture and mannerisms belied anxiety and even fear. “Whatever is the matter General?” He replied, fearing the answer. “There has been an.. incident in the Gelda system. A Separatist flight was responding to an emergency call from the Separatist command on the planet. There are minimal details as of yet, but I received a single holo-photo. This is what brought this to my attention. I believe you need to see it.” 

A murky and grainy image appeared instead of Grievous. “What is this General? I see some type of ship. If one can call it that.” Dooku was masking his fear with a thinly-layered disguise of disdain. “This, Count, is what destroyed a Separatist flight single-handedly. And what’s more, I believe that there are more of them.” Grievous now sounded annoyed and still anxious. “I am aware of your concerns Grievous. I will discuss it with my master, whom I was going to speak with before you interrupted. Now if you’ll excuse me.” Dooku cut the transmission before Grievous could reply. 

But now he was thoroughly concerned. He attempted to meditate, but his feelings were too upturned to continue. After a time of contemplating what this meant for his and his master’s plans, he began to pace. This went on for about fifteen minutes before he realized what he was doing. As it hit him, he stopped mid-pace. He was pacing? He hadn’t paced in years. Almost decades. 

He contemplated what it meant until his holocom started beeping. He knew what it meant; his master was calling. He quickly paced to his meditation pad to be present. He barely made it to the pad in time to take it, but he did. He attempted to look dignified, but thought that he did a poor job of it. He quickly banished these thoughts from his mind before he answered the call. 

The familiar, ambiguous shape of Darth Sidious, Dark lord of the Sith, mastermind behind the entire War, appeared, hovering as though suspended by some unknown force. “My apprentice.. What has you in such a worrisome state? I assure you that our lovely Admiral Trench can maintain control over Ringo Vinda for as long as we need.” Sidious seemed slightly amused at his apprentice’s fear. “No, my master. A matter that is much more urgent than Ringo Vinda and Trench. The… Outbound Flight’s hostiles have made a move much sooner than we anticipated. They have destroyed the Gelda system along with the entire populace of the planet and the flight that responded to the distress call. Grievous has a holo-photo of one of their main attack ships.” 

Sidious’s face twisted into disgust and fury. “You’d best not be mocking me, Tyrannus. I have very little patience for these jokes.” Dooku paled and began to sweat slightly. “No, my master! I do not jest! Grievous has proof! They have destroyed the planet Gelda and the flight that was sent to intervene!” Dooku pleaded. 

Sidious’s glare became horrendous to endure. The pressure from it would be unbearable to any other sentient, but Dooku knew what it meant. It meant unnecessary change. It meant change that could possibly ruin all of what they worked towards. 

Sidious didn’t speak for several minutes, Dooku remained bowed during this time, fearful of what would happen if he rose or spoke. Finally, slowly, Sidious began to speak again. “Tyrannus. I want you to recall Trench from Ringo Vinda as well as Grievous. They need to be made aware of this situation. Ensure that they understand the full scope of the situation and allow them access to the Outbound Flight’s databanks and any other evidence we possess. Also make sure that they know to obliterate any trace of these.. Monstrosities from the Galaxy. I will not allow these beings to interfere with the goals we have been working towards for this entire time.” 

Dooku was surprised to say the least. “Master, what of Ringo Vinda? I fear that without Trench we could lose the entire system to the Jedi and wha--”  
Sidious’s face twisted in disgust and fury once again as he shouted. “Be silent! I am prepared to lose Ringo Vinda if it means getting a chance to push this scum from the Galaxy.” 

Dooku, even though he had been with Sidious since the beginning, knew that he wouldn’t hesitate to dispose of him if he felt it needed. “Of course master, what is your bidding?” Sidious’s response was a simple, yet somewhat strained smile. “My apprentice, here is what I wish…”


	2. (Un)Fruitful Discussions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Diplomatic talks, spies, and a cameo by a very "famous" character from the prequels!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! Another update! "So soon?!" May be your question. My response. "Why yes! It's because this came to be on a flight of angles' wings and with a heavenly choir!" To which your response would probably be along the lines of, "The frak?" Anyway, no Warhammer easter eggs as of yet. But a cameo that I just had to put in there. So enjoy! More at the bottom!

The Jedi Temple on Coruscant: Obi-Wan’s POV 

Only several days after Dooku and Sidious discussed the coming storm. The Jedi Council was in an emergency session, discussing a veritable tsunami that most Jedi felt throughout the Force. Needless to say, the Jedi were incredibly anxious about what the Force was trying to tell them. More so that they were hearing unconfirmed reports from Republic Intelligence about a disaster that had befallen a Separatist system. All looked to Yoda for guidance in this time of questions.  
“Hmmmm… Heard nothing about this have we?” Yoda asked. “No, Master. Republic Intelligence, while resourceful, has been unable to find any details beyond something disastrous happening to an unknown Separatist system. They believe the system to be somewhere in the Outer Rim however. But that doesn’t narrow much down.” Responded Jedi Master Plo Koon.  
Yoda let out something that could be translated into a dismayed grunt. Obi-Wan knew that out of all the Jedi in the room, only Yoda truly felt how dismal the situation was. He had sensed the death and pain that had radiated from some unknown force, yet he was helpless to find where it had come from. It had already proven to be too much for several younglings to handle and they were forced to keep them in a trance to avoid causing harm to themselves or others around them.  
More so, when the feelings of pain and fear had first emerged, it threw the Jedi, including him, off of their normally composed selves. This had led to several vital conflicts that had been assured of victory to suddenly be thrown into doubt on whether or not the Republic would succeed. Oddly enough, it seemed as though the Separatists were also hyper-aware of this “disaster” and were even moving troops off of certain worlds and relocating entire divisions to new, unknown locations.  
Yoda was deep in thought about these things when he spoke up. “Master Yoda? Perhaps they believe these reports are from a third party attempting to redirect Separatist forces elsewhere, that would explain why the Droids are evacuating the fronts.” Luminara Unduli questioned this however. “But it doesn’t explain why we haven’t heard of it, why the Separatists are taking such a notice in it, or even who is behind it? It seems illogical, the Separatists have tricked us in the past, granted, but this seems like they have something they wish to contain before it’s too late.” He nodded, seeing her reasoning. “But what if this ‘third party’ is a resistance cell of some kind, or perhaps someone is trying to send us a message.” At this point the Council was in a full blown argument over this problem. After several minutes, Yoda finally spoke up. “No trick this is. Sense not I any Sith meddling either. No.. A truly grave threat this is. Not just to the Separatists, but to the Galaxy I fear.” After several minutes of shocked silence, Obi-Wan spoke up again. “If this threat is truly as dire as you fear, it would make sense for us to investigate this with the Jedi supporting any intelligence assets we can.”  
This made sense to the Council, many of them nodding. But Mace Windu seemed unhappy. Yoda seemed to notice this and decided to address it. “Problem you have, Master Windu?” Windu seemed conflicted, which was rare and slightly nerve-wracking for the other Jedi. “Yes Master, I am conflicted. My conflict comes from the fact that we simply cannot spare the Jedi to address this problem. With the Droids in retreat, I feel as though we should take the initiative before they come to their senses. I understand that some of the Council feel as though this is a trap; and I cannot say for sure if it is or not, but I feel as though we let a perfect opportunity to end this war if we do not push.”  
This almost brought a new round of arguments to the council, but Obi-Wan, quietly talking with Yoda for a minute or so, offered a solution. “What if we were to send Anakin and Ahsoka? Cato Neimoidia is, for sure, a heavily defended world, but I’m sure that the Clones could deal with it. Furthermore, we all know that the two of them are.. Headstrong to say the least. But they produce results that far exceed our expectations.” Yoda supported this with a quiet nod to Windu. Windu looked as though he wished to press the subject, but decided not to. After a minute or two of silence, Obi-Wan had the final word. “Then it’s settled. I’ll contact Anakin and Ahsoka and let them know. Should they take some of the 501st with them?” The Council seemed happy that a verdict had been reached, most of them nodding. Luminara, piping up, said with a small grin. “I believe that it is wise to send support with them. As you pointed out, Master Kenobi, the two of them are.. ‘Headstrong.” There were a few chuckles following her statement and it appeared that the tension was broken. There were a few more minutes of discussion, but it seemed as though the Council had finally agreed on what to do. When the Council finally broke up, Yoda beckoned to Obi-Wan to remain behind for a time.  
Yoda seemed disquieted, this alone put him on edge. “Trust Skywalker and Tano I do. But to have someone else there I think is best. With them go, ensure accurate the information is.” Yoda quietly told him. Obi-Wan seemed slightly shocked with this order. “Of course Master. But do you think that they would inaccurately keep information? Rex will be there with them. He usually keeps a clear head.” Obi-Wan asked. Yoda looked at him for a moment, then sighed and replied. “With them the fault does not lie. But with their emotions I fear is where they shall fail. A great evil I sense in the future. An evil that change the Galaxy it will. Rely on their emotions I fear they will…” Obi-Wan frowned at this, but agreed with Yoda’s assessment of the two. “I’ll go with them and make sure that they stay out of trouble, Master. But if this evil is truly as great as you say, I don’t think my presence will make much difference.” Yoda smiled slightly at this. But the words that followed quickly killed the mood. “True that is. But a friend and mentor I believe they will need.” Obi-Wan was slightly pale at this point, but nodded. As he turned to go, he was suddenly struck by a thought. “Master Yoda? Is this Evil greater than the Sith?” Yoda turned to look at him as he stood by a window. “Greater than the Sith it is.” Was his only response.

Aboard the Resolute in the Cato Nemoidia System: Wullf Yularen’s POV

Admiral Wullf Yularen was having a bad day. First he had to deal with Skywalker’s ambitious, if one could use that wording for it, plans. Then he had to deal with the Jedi Council recalling both of the Jedi. He may not have approved of their tactics. Or their methods. Or their diplomacy, which usually included using his ship as an intimidation tactic. But he certainly wanted them in a fight. And Cato Nemoidia was turning out to be just that. Not only had it had a much bigger defense fleet than originally thought, it turned out that they had fortified the planet to an almost ridiculous degree. And an “almost ridiculous degree” was downright annoying for him.  
He sighed at the thought of the amount of paperwork he would have to go through after the battle. It was almost worth going with the Jedi as a “Republic Navy Liaison,” but it couldn’t be helped. At least this way he was sure that he wouldn’t have to use any of the massive turbolaser towers he had so painstakingly requisitioned.  
His day got worse when a bridge controller started yelling about something coming out of hyperspace. Then his day sank even lower when multiple bridge controllers started yelling. Finally, his day sank to about the lowest ever, when he saw the massive Separatist fleet that had emerged from hyperspace. Easily outgunning the Republic fleet in the system, it was awe inspiring. Also very annoying for a certain admiral. For several minutes he just stood there staring at the massive flotilla that had come to ruin his already pretty kriffed up day. The clones on the bridge just stared at him for a minute. Then, very quietly they heard him say one word. “Frak.”

 

Aboard the Final Sight, an Acclamator-class assault ship currently in hyperspace: Ahsoka’s POV

Meanwhile on the Final Sight, Anakin Skywalker was annoyed and he was showing his annoyance while in the hangar ‘working’ on his starfighter. Which included a lot of pacing and muttering to himself. “Why is the Council calling us back now?! We had the planet under control! There was no reason to pull us back!” Ahsoka was trying to calm him down, while fixing her own fighter, to little avail. “I’m sure there’s a good reason Master! You felt that… Thing in the Force! Maybe they’re calling us back because they want to see what you think! You are the Chosen One after all!” Ahsoka didn’t think that it would work. But surprisingly, Anakin stopped pacing and muttering and stared at her. “Ya know Snips… That’s actually pretty good. Can’t believe I didn’t think of it myself.” She was pretty certain that he was joking. But wasn’t sure if he was actually joking or seriously saying that. She decided to consider it as the former. “Plus, I’m sure that General.. What’s-his-name will do fine! We couldn’t even wait to get on-world, same will go for him!” She grinned, taking a little bit of pleasure in poking him about his “controlled landing,” which was Skywalker-talk for crashing. He grinned at her, obviously noticing her jab at him.  
He was about to say something more when his holocom started going off. “What could this be about? We can’t be there already..” He said, confused. He activated the holocom and instantly saw a clone trooper. “Sir. I’ve been asked that you come to the Bridge as soon as possible. We have a situation.” The trooper sounded grim and looked like he was ready to deliver bad news. “What’s wrong trooper?” Anakin asked, somewhat concerned. “It’d be better if you get up here right away. And bring Commander Tano when you come sir. She’s been asked to be present as well.” Was the curt response. Anakin nodded and cut the com. “You heard the man, Snips. Let’s go see what’s going on.” He said as he walked away. “Gotcha Master. R-7, take over for me will you?” Ahsoka said, hopping out of her pilot’s seat and jogging to catch up.  
It took several minutes to get to the bridge, but when they did, they knew that nothing good had happened. A trooper, noticing them, quickly walked over and saluted, saying as he walked. “Sirs. Good to see you. You have an urgent transmission from the Jedi Council. Priority One coding sirs.” Anakin was caught off-guard with such high clearance codes, but quickly recovered, giving a little salute back. “Thank you trooper. That’ll be all.” The trooper saluted and walked back to his assigned post.  
As they walked up to the Holocom, Anakin signaled to the communication troopers to patch it through. Mace Windu and Obi-Wan were waiting. Obi-Wan spoke first. “Ah, Anakin. We have a bit of a situation here.” Anakin’s immediate response was, “Did something happen at Cato Nemoidia?” Obi-Wan looked as though he was expecting the question. “Yes and no. Something did happen. But not what you’re thinking Anakin. See, shortly after you left, a massive Separatist flotilla arrived in the system, but instead of attacking, they requested a parley with the general of the assault. That was Admiral Yularen at the time, but he quickly handed it over to us. I’ll spare you the details, but the Separatist fleet wasn’t there as a warfleet, but as a messenger. The direct quote from the captain we spoke to was, ‘Something to attract your attention.’ They want to meet on neutral ground and discuss a temporary ceasefire.”  
Anakin and Ahsoka were both shocked. “A ceasefire?! Now?! Why now?” Was Ahsoka’s outburst. Mace glared at her, but responded with, “We believe something has happened within Separatist territory that requires their full attention. The Council wants you two and Obi-Wan to be our representatives at the talks.” “Where will the talk be held?” Anakin asked with suspicion. Obi-Wan sighed. “They will be held at Bothawui. Due to the fact that there is no significant Republic or Separatist presence there.” Anakin sighed, “That means that they’ll have reinforcements nearby, if not there. Who else will be going?” Obi-Wan seemed to perk up slightly at this. “The Senate has decided to send Senator Chuchi as the ambassador. I believe she’ll be a good fit.” Anakin and Ahsoka both nodded, remembering their time on Pantora. Obi-Wan continued, “I’ll be meeting you there, Mace is going to do some digging on this incident that occurred somewhere in the Outer Rim.” Mace nodded, “I’ll be taking a small contingent of troopers with me and heading out to gather information from our contacts within the Outer Rim.” Anakin looked thoughtful as they spoke. Obi-Wan, noticing this, asked. “What’s on your mind Anakin?” Anakin seemed to shake himself out of his stupor. “Sorry Masters. I was trying to figure out what could have happened to make the Seppies panic so much.” Obi-Wan, smiling, said. “We’ll find out soon enough, won’t we?”

Three days later in the Bothawui System: Senator Chuchi’s POV

The Skakoan representative said, for about the ninth time during the discussion. “Senator. The terms we laid out are non-negotiable.” The same reply as the first eight times was used again. “But these ‘terms,’ if one can even call them that, are completely biased in the Confederacy’s favor. Furthermore, you’re refusing to give us any information in return for our intelligence!” Chuchi was very, very annoyed. But she also knew that the representative was also aware of the extremely unfair agreement made. What she didn’t know was who was behind the offer. This was why she pressed her argument so far, much further than what was ‘politically correct.’ This representative was nothing more than a puppet for whoever was in charge of the accord. Also, she was annoyed with the fact that they were meeting a front instead of the leader. She also knew that if she pushed too far, she could end up alienating whoever was behind it.  
After a few minutes of discussion, they decided to break for a cycle. As she left, she overheard the representative talking to an aide. “I heard she was stubborn. But frak me, I didn’t realize how stubborn she really was!” She got a grin at this, but realized that he would report it to whoever was running this show. It killed her mood slightly, but she still was pretty upbeat at this. It meant she was making progress.  
When she returned to her rooms, she met Obi-Wan there. From what she was told, Anakin and Ahsoka were somewhere in the Quiilura sector, hunting for whatever was the problem. Obi-Wan was meditating when she came in, but asked her. “I assume today was the same as the last, what is it now? Nine times?” He had a slight grin as he asked, but the tone was serious. She sighed, disappointed to have to give him her response. “Sadly yes, Master Jedi. They continue to refuse to change the terms. They seemed like they were getting ever so slightly annoyed. I have no idea why.” She made, what she believed to be a completely innocent face, as she said this. Obi-Wan’s grin grew slightly as he heard her tone. But it quickly died as he twisted his face in thought. “You understand that they aren’t going to change their minds now, correct? I believe that we’re wasting time at these talks.” He said, still meditating. She sighed and rubbed her increasingly furrowed brow. “Yes, you are correct. I had assumed that my stalling tactic would draw whoever was behind them out. But it seems as though they won’t do it for anything. Has Ahsoka reported anything interesting?” Obi-Wan sighed, giving up his meditation for now. “No. Ahsoka says that all they talk about it the fact that they either have to get you to agree or they’ll walk. And it’s beginning to look like they’re going to walk. I don’t believe we can do anything about it at this point anyway.”  
Chuchi was feeling much more tired than a Pantoran her age should be, when the door’s chime went off. “Who on earth could that be?” Asked Obi-Wan. As he went to the door it chimed again. “Yes, yes, coming!” He called. When he opened the door, he started slightly. “Ah. Representative Hem! Good to see you!” He said, obviously surprised to see him. “Master Jedi. I am here to speak with Senator Chuchi. It regards the talks.” Came the response. Obi-Wan, ever the diplomat, bowed slightly and motioned for them to come in. “Of course, the Senator and I were just discussing it.” As the Representative came in, Chuchi made a visible effort not to show her annoyance with the Representative. “Greetings Senator. I come bearing bad news.” Was the first thing he said, even before she could get the proper greetings out. “Of course. Whatever is the matter?” She responded, slightly frazzled with the lack of etiquette that had be so heavily prevalent before. “The bad news is this, Senator. The Confederacy of Independent Systems has decided to pull out of the accords. The reason being is that the Republic seems too unfriendly to our advances. Therefore the Confederacy will no longer pursue these talks. Thank you for your time.” With this, he turned and walked right out the door. This left a very surprised Chuchi and Obi-Wan to process what had just happened. Obi-Wan got over his surprise first. “Did we just get thrown out of the talks?” Chuchi, barely over her shock, responded. “Yes, Master Jedi. I believe we just did.”

The Muunilinist System: A Station Owner’s POV

He should have known that being on the Republic’s pay would come back to bite him. But here was a frakking Jedi wanting information that he couldn’t give him. “I’ll ask one more time… Nicely. What is this “disaster” that the Separatists are dealing with?” Asked the very annoyed Jedi. “I don’t know! All I know is that they’ve blocked off the Relgim Run! They aren’t allowing anyone to pass, they’ve got layers of blockades and patrol craft watching for anyone passing by.” He responded, getting more and more anxious about the whole deal. The Jedi frowned, then looked away for a minute. The Rodian was understandably nervous about it, but didn’t want to say anything for fear of alienating a Jedi. The Jedi finally turned around stared at him before asking, “Where is this information coming from?” The Rodian had a slight panic attack at this. “All the information I’m giving you comes from.. ‘Liberated’ Separatist datapads. I can guarantee that no one about my involvement.” The Rodian responded, slightly offended at the insinuation. Before the Jedi could respond however, the Rodian’s son ran out, laughing and playing with his toy blaster. “Greedo! I told you to stay in your room until I got you!” The Rodian yelled. Greedo stopped mid-run and looked guiltily at his father. “Sorry Da-da. But the monsters were invading my room and I had to stop them!” He warbled. His father smiled slightly and went and picked him up. “Well you can go fight the monsters in your room, alright? I’ll come and get you in a bit and we can go get some treats? Okay?” He said. Greedo’s only response was a small hoot of joy and the clambering out of his father’s arms and running back into the corridor. The Rodian, still smiling, said. “That’s how you’ll know my information is good. I wouldn’t give it to you unless I was sure.” The Jedi, still grim looking, only nodded. “I’ll be on my way then. Thank you for the information. I’ll make sure you are well compensated for your troubles.” The Rodian nodded before leaving the room.  


Mace Windu’s POV

He waited for his contact to leave the room before contacting Obi-Wan and Anakin. It took several minutes, due to the extent of the call, but when he finally connected, he wasn’t pleased with the looks on their faces. “Master Kenobi, Skywalker. I have information regarding the incident. But it looks like you don’t have any good news either.” He said, brusquely. Obi-Wan sighed and responded. “No, Master Windu. I’m afraid we don’t. The Separatists refused to give details or even why they wanted a ceasefire. Today was the last day of the talks and I’m afraid that they broke down before they even got started. The Separatists wanted an unconditional ceasefire, while we insisted on a reason for it. They stonewalled us, Mace. Plain and simple. I don’t think we’re getting anything out of them anytime soon.” He sighed, rubbing his eyes. “That is bad news. Skywalker? Anything on your end?” Anakin looked tired, “No, Master. But we’re only in the Qiilura sector, but all evidence is pointing near you right now.” Mace sighed, “Very well. But I may have something for you. My contact here has told me that the Separatists have blockaded part of the Relgim Run, effectively cutting off several planets from the rest of the galaxy. I’ve also discovered that none of the planets beyond the blockade have responded to any hails from any sources. I believe that whatever happened is no longer localized to a single planet, but possibly the entire sector.” Anakin asked a simple question that they were all thinking. “So what exactly happened?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So thank you to Aphilaeus and Destiel_Sabriel4eva for the kudos! I hope everyone is enjoying this fic so far, I know it isn't very action-y. But there's a massive amount of setup for this fic, before we get to the battling of (REDACTED) and the eternal romance of (REDACTED) and, of course, the wonderful ending that includes (REDACTED), (REDACTED), and (REDACTED) dying in horrible ways! But all kidding aside, there'll be more action in future chapters, *wiggles eyebrows* including some wonderful scenes with Mace Windu in them! 
> 
> But I need help! Do you guys want to see these mysterious, (Or not, if you read the summary of the prologue. ;D) aliens in the next chapter or do you want me to go to an Anakin and Ahsoka scene?  
> So leave a comment on who's next!


	3. First "contact" of sorts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The first Republic contact with the "invaders!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey guys! Sorry for the long wait between updates! But I wanted to get this out as soon as possible!
> 
> Few more things at the bottom!
> 
> Enjoy this super-short chapter!

Aboard the Final Sight in the Quiilura Sector: Ahsoka’s POV

“So what exactly happened?” Asked Anakin. I could tell that Skyguy was irritated, but I didn’t know why. I assumed it was because we were stuck “patrolling” in some backwater sector. “I believe some type of infestation, possibly biological in nature occurred and then visiting ships somehow transported the virus from planet to planet. It’s a miracle that no other planet has reported it yet. But it doesn’t explain why communications are cut off…” Replied Mace. “Could it be that whatever this virus is, it’s caused some type of neurological response? Or it’s possibly some type of alien parasite? We’ve seen that before. Though, I couldn’t imagine why it started in the Gelda system. Possibly delayed reaction to the people on world?” Asked Obi-Wan, looking thoughtful. “Whatever the case, I need you here, Skywalker. We can cover more ground that way.” Mace said, cutting Obi-Wan off from a long debate. “Of course, Master. We’ll set off as soon as we regroup.” Anakin said, looking relieved that we were being pulled off of patrol duty. “Very well. I’ll escort Senator Chuchi back to Coruscant and move to rendezvous with you as soon as I can.” Obi-Wan said. “Very well, Masters. I’ll meet you at the rendezvous point.” Anakin said, grinning and giving them a small two-finger salute. Obi-Wan grinned and shook his head, while Mace just glared and cut the com.  
“Well. C’mon Snips. Looks like we got a new mission ahead of us.” Anakin said to me, still grinning. I responded in kind as we walked to let the captain know. As we walked, I thought about what could have happened to those systems. Like, what could have gotten the Seppies in such a fuss? Despite what Master Windu and Kenobi said, I thought that it couldn’t be as simple as an infection. That wouldn’t warrant so many droids being pulled from battles across the galaxy. My thoughts were shattered when I walked face first into Rex. 

Aboard the Final Sight: CT-7576 | Rex’s POV

I very rarely see Commander Tano in such deep thought around others. But I know that it means that something isn’t sitting well with her. Then I know it’s bad when she doesn’t even notice me till she’s face-first into my plasteel chestplate. “Commander? Are you alright?” I ask quickly. She gives me a little grin as she holds her nose. “Yeah, Rex. Only thing hurt is my dignity.” She laughs. There’s a slight ease in the tension as she says this. I didn’t even notice that I had tensed when she hit me. The General is just standing there grinning, I notice out of the corner of my eye. “So what’s the mission, General? The boys are ready to get to work.” I ask. Ahsoka answers this question, with her usual eyeroll. “Well, Rex. It isn’t exactly exciting. We get to go look for a mystery enemy! A magical, unknown, phanta-” She says in her usual sarcastic way before General Skywalker cuts her off. “That’s enough Snips. Rex, we’re going to go figure out what the Seppies are up to and why they’re pulling so many troops from the front and where they’re sending them.” I nod, slightly confused. “Yes sir. But why are we being pulled from the front? Wouldn’t this be better for Republic Intelligence to handle?” Anakin nods, looking as conflicted as I do.”Normally I would agree, but we felt something through the Force. We believe it to be a result of whatever happened. The Jedi Council wants us to search for it.” This makes sense to me; and the General knows this as he nods, somewhat to himself. Ahsoka is just looking slightly annoyed at the two of us. A typical day serving under the Jedi then.  
Aboard a nondescript freighter in the Dactruria system: (Third-Person POV)

Throughout the entire ship, lights were flickering, pipes were venting into space, and dead, frozen bodies were floating in vented rooms. But in the very center of the ship, lay a small, but habitable zone. Within it, lay several pods, the likes of which had never been seen before. The pods pulsed and occasionally oozed a strange, green lubricant that was quickly reintegrated back into the pods. Scattered around the pods lay the bodies of some of what was the former crew. What was in the pods were indescribable, a mass of organic material and matter of some kind.  
Worse, a small Republic medical frigate approaches, attempting to rescue whatever crew is left aboard the semi-obliterated spaceship. As they approached, they detected the small signs of life in the center of the ship. As they deployed rescue teams and scanned for survivors, they quickly realized that it wasn’t a normal case of a pirates attacking a transport, but instead, that it had strange and unusual markings and damage.   
But these thoughts were pushed back in the face of rescuing survivors. So onward they went, Search and Rescue teams pushing their way past bodies, wreckage, and debris. They finally reached the outer doors to the lifesigns. The leader, a clone sergeant, commed the bridge of the ship. “Sir. We’ve reached the inner layer. But there’s hard vacuum right outside the blastdoors behind us. Permission to reconnect power and seal a second layer.” The captain thought for a minute, then responded. “Go ahead, Sergeant. But please take every precaution. I don’t want to lose lives due to a malfunction.” There was an affirmative noise on the other end as they went to work.  
Fifteen minutes later. “Sir? The room is secure. We’re about to breach. Permission to patch the probe droid’s sensors into the Bridge?” Came the question. The officer pondered this for a moment. “Not exactly standard operating procedure, Sarge. But go ahead. I want to know what exactly happened.” He said, a little bit curious. “Right sir. Give us a minute to patch through. Any signs of movement inside while we’ve been setting up?” Sarge asked. “Little nervous, Sarge? But no. No movement so far. Some weird reading though. It looks like they’ve gathered together in a mass. Probably to conserve heat. Just be careful. We’re about to head in. Dax’s got the Probe ready. Patching through now.”   
There was a crackle as the probe droid’s remote systems linked to the ship. A moment later and the whole bridge saw what the Search and Rescue team saw. “You receiving this, Bridge?” Sarge asked. “Loud and somewhat clear. Slight static, but within acceptable parameters. You’re clear to begin the rescue operation.” Came the response from the Bridge. “Copy that. Going in now.” The Search and Rescue team opened the doors and suddenly gasped. “Sir! You’re gonna want to see this. And alert whatever commands we can.” Came a quiet voice. “What’s happened,” The Captain asked. “The Probe’s view is blocked.” “Sir.. There’s something… In here.. Send over science and medical teams ASAP.” Came the response, sounding slightly panicked now. “Copy that, Sarge. The teams are prepping now. I’m ordering a secondary security detail to accompany them. But what’s going on?” Sarge’s voice came back on, but this time, it sounded even more panicked. “There are these strange pod things. Definitely not part of the ship. We haven’t entered the room yet. We’ve pulled out to a safer position.” As Sarge was speaking, several sensor went off in the Bridge. An ensign piped up, “Sir? There are lifeform readings coming from other parts of the ship!” The Captain spun around. “What?! There aren’t any life supports systems still active are there?” The ensign, looking slightly pale, replied. “No sir! No other systems are active! But these lifeforms just appeared out of nowhere! And they’re moving towards the away team!” The Captain, turning back to stare at the destroyed vessel radioed the Search and Rescue Team. “Sarge, you’re going to have company. We have unidentified lifeforms headed towards you.” There was a quick intake of breath on the other end of the connection, then a response. “Copy that Command. We’ll set up a perimeter. Permission to use deadly force if necessary?” Without hesitation the Captain responded. “You have the go-ahead to use deadly force, Sergeant. Frak ‘em up.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So as you may have noticed, this chapter was suuuuuppper short. I apologize for that. But we're reaching a point where I'd rather have several small chapters to keep the suspense. ;D
> 
> I also had a little bit of writer's block on this chapter, but we won't mention that.. Hee hee. 
> 
> Anyway, there won't be any updates for a couple of weeks! I'm sorry about that, but I didn't have any chapters I could upload in between! Poor planning on my part. But I'll have a chapter by the first week of August! I promise!
> 
> Anyway, that's all for now!


	4. A sign of things to come

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> URGENT NOTE
> 
> I do not own any of Disney's Star Wars franchise, only my original characters and certain aspects of the story. To repeat, I own nothing besides my own work. Please refer to Disney for information regarding the intellectual property of Star Wars and associated franchises.
> 
> Thank you.

The Dactruria System (Ahsoka's POV)  
"Why exactly are we here instead of another frigate? Aren't we needed in the hunt for those weird ships?" I asked, just ever-so annoyed that we were out here in the middle of frakking nowhere, hunting for what probably was just a deserter. "Now now, Snips. It's a Jedi's duty t-" Skyguy said, loaded so full of sarcasm that I was afraid of what would happen if it blew.  
Of course, me being the beautiful, innocent, young lady that I am, decided to antagonize him and not let him even start to rant. "To help those who need it, no matter who it is. Yeah, yeah.. I know. Still! Why send us?! Why not just send a frigate to do this?" Anakin just chuckled and I wasn't sure what annoyed me more, the fact that he was obviously taking a great deal of pleasure in my very dignified and appropriate complaints.   
The entire reason we were having this conversation, while flying our little fighters through what can only be described as asteroid hell, was because halfway through our search for these strange ships, we were randomly ordered to search for a medical frigate that had vanished after responding to what the Council believed was a refugee ship fleeing the Separatists. Obviously though, we had to go and figure out whatever had gotten to them, instead of the dozens of smaller corvettes that weren't supposed to be searching for an unknown fleet that destroyed an entire battlegroup. Oh no, this absolutely took precedent. Plus, the medical ship had only reported issues with their hyperdrive and sublight drive, not life support or anything. So why send the two Jedi responsible for hunting down a group that literally annihilated a battle fleet?  
Unfortunately, before I could make an extremely witty and downright scathing response, we saw the medical frigate. I'll admit, when I first thought that we were just going to repair a hyperdrive and go, I suppose I was being a little bit optimistic. I mean, I try to have a golden outlook on life in general, but even I had a hard time cracking a joke about this.  
The ship looked like someone had cut massive holes in the exterior walls and vented the atmosphere into space. Random bits of sparking debris floated around the field, occasionally smashing into another piece of debris and creating a lightshow. But what really grabbed our attention was the strange mollusk looking thing floating, completely still, in-between the medical frigate and what I assumed was the refugee ship. It was at this point I noticed the strange tendril-looking things that had connected to the two ships. "Uhhh.. Master? You seeing this?" I asked, confused. "Yeah. I see it. This thing is some type of life form, but I'm detecting other lifeforms and high temperature levels within it. Parasites maybe? Mynocks thrive in that type of condition. Never seen that type of lifeform though." Came the hushed response. We didn't speak for several moments as the sight of the strange thing was slightly terrifying. I thought that the tendrils swayed slightly between the two wrecked vessels, as if in a slight breeze. But we didn't take long to gather our thoughts. "Rex? You seeing this?" Anakin asked, now all businesslike. "Yes sir. The techies say that the thing doesn't fit anything in the database so far. Still looking though. They want permission to break into the Republic Exploratory Datacenter to see if they've ever seen something like this." Rex said, as I heard quite the commotion on the ship's bridge. "Tell 'em to go ahead and do it. If they can't get access, tell them to contact the Temple and get permission from there. I'll vouch for them." Anakin said as he started a standard patrol pattern around the weird thing. "Yes sir. We'll try and get you details in a few minutes." Rex said, before he started yelling orders to the troopers looking for anything they could.   
But I wasn't convinced, this thing was giving me a bad vibe and I knew that Anakin was feeling it too, he was just too stubborn or arrogant to say it. I knew I had to say something or we were just going to sit there and stew in the bad vibes. "Master? Can we move back a bit? This is giving off some weird vibes for me. I think it'd be safer if we returned to the ship. We don't need to be right here next to it, do we?" Anakin made an uncommitted noise. I figured pressing him wouldn't help at the moment.   
So I decided to leave it at that. "Do we want to wait for the clones to get here before trying to go into either of the ships?" Skyguy was quiet for a couple of minutes before responding. "Let's not wait. If there are survivors aboard the medical frigate, they could need help. But judging from the damages to the other ship, I don't think we'll find anyone alive there. I was hoping to figure out what this thing was before breaching, but I can't just wait around anymore." I nodded, knowing what he meant. It was hard having to wait around, but we had both learned some restraint over the past two years. "Rex? You hear all that?" Anakin asked. "Yes sir. We're still scrambling a boarding party. We'll head over as soon as they're prepped. If you're going in now, sensors recommend going in from the port side cargo hold. There's a large opening that we think was caused by some type of internal trauma. Be careful sir. We'll alert you if anything changes." Rex said, even though I could feel the disapproval that was radiating off of him. "Thanks, Rex. We'll let you know what it's like in there." Anakin replied.   
I, really, didn't want to go into the ship. But I knew that any survivors in there could use our help and it was a Jedi's duty to help those who needed it, even when the Jedi in question didn't want to. "You good, Snips? I know what you're thinking right now, but we have to go help any survivors." Anakin asked, once again shaking me out of my thoughts; it was uncanny how he could do that. "I'm good, Master. We've handled worse before. Plus, nothing could be worse than that bar on Coruscant." I say, flippantly. But I figured he knew I was putting on a brave front, but in truth, I was incredibly nervous. We could both feel the fear coming from the ship. I wasn't sure how much was from the ship and how much was from me. I didn't know why, but for some reason, I felt incredibly nervous about the strange thing that was currently floating lifelessly between the wreckage. But a Jedi's duty was to overcome fear and bring peace to those who were fearful. Easy to say, hard to practice.  
I didn't get long to ponder these, I guess heretical, thoughts, as Anakin was already getting prepped for a hard vacuum spacewalk. I was already wearing my spacesuit, with the obviously exception of my helmet. That I quickly donned and then vented the atmosphere. This was a special little maneuver I did after hearing about a clone pilot who didn't vent his atmosphere before ejecting and ended up spattered all over a Vulture droid's paintjob. We finally rejoined each other just outside the breach that Rex had told us about. I was already dreading our entry to the ship, since the breach looked like some massive creature had literally just punched through the hull and wrenched it open. No bodies as of yet though, which was a blessing. "C'mon, Snips. Enough daydreaming for now. We got a job to do and I have to have you focused on the mission." Anakin said gently. I nodded, "Yeah.. Sorry Master. This is just weird. Doesn't feel right to me." He also nodded, which was enough said, considering the situation. "Alright, Rex. We're going in." Rex’s reply was a little concerning, as he sounded slightly nervous, which should have scared anyone. “Copy that, Commander. Be careful in there.” Anakin was already out of his fighter when he answered Rex’s worry. “Ahhhh.. Don’t worry Rex! Aren’t we always careful? Plus, it’ll just be a buncha Mynocks I bet. Nothing that some farm boy with a blaster couldn’t handle.” Normally, this would get at least a chuckle from Rex, but this time, he just sounded irritated. “Does that mean we need to get another Clone Army to rescue you then?” I could see Skyguy wince from my fighter. I have to admit, Rex wasn’t exactly subtle that time. “Okay, Rex. Point made, we’re going in now.” I said, hoping to defuse the situation before either one of them did something they would regret. “Got it, Commander. Rex out.” Came the reply before the little burst of feedback came. By the time I got out of my fighter and joined Anakin at the breach, he was already looking a little sheepish. “Thanks, Snips.. I don’t know what came over me right there. I’ll probably have to make it up to Rex, somehow..” He said, rubbing the back of his head and looking away. I just glared at him in response. To be fair, I was partially to blame for that situation, but he aggravated Rex, instead of trying to help out. So I wasn’t particularly merciful this time around. “Well, what’s done is done. Rex’ll get over it. Plus, if he doesn’t, I’ll make the two of you sit in a locked room for a while. That’ll solve our problems real fast.” I replied, only half-joking. Anakin stared at me for a minute or two, but just shook his head before making his way to the breach. I quickly followed, not wanting to be left behind in this creepy graveyard of wreckage.   
As we entered the ship, I noticed that most of the debris was outside the ship and the inner section of the ship was incredibly clean. I noticed that Anakin was also wary of the ship, which made me even more nervous. “Stay on you guard, Snips. This is making me nervous. I think that there’s something around here with us.” I looked around nervously, but I couldn’t see anything besides an abandoned cargo section of the ship.  
As we moved through the ship, I noticed that the halls were too clean. If there had been a catastrophic hull breach, there should have been debris everywhere. But instead, there weren’t any bodies, pieces of the inner hull, or even cleaning droids floating around. It was like someone had broken through the hull, taken all the crew, and then deep-cleaned the entire ship, venting all the wreckage into space. I’d never heard of any pirates doing this and the weird thing outside seemed to also disprove the pirate theory. “Snips! Up there! You see that?” Anakin yelled, even though we had our coms open. “Ouch.. No, what was it?” I replied, rubbing my head from the shouting. “Some type of tendril thing! Looked like the thing that was attached to the ships!” This was concerning. This was mostly due to the fact that we had entered on the opposite side from the weird thing. If there were tendrils this far in the ship, it meant that the parasite was much more entrenched in the ships than we originally thought. This also meant that it had somehow punched through a good two and half feet of durasteel. Suddenly, there was a massive surge in the power, as the exposed parts of the hull and the lights silently exploded in a shower of small metal shards and sparks. Anakin didn’t even have time to shout a warning before we had to move. Fortunately, we were both Jedi, which made small matters like metal shards flying at terminal velocity towards our soft, fleshy bits. Or at least, it would have been a small matter if we had a little bit of warning. “Master! Move!” I shouted as I tried to dodge the shards flying towards me. Anakin was already moving by the time I shouted my warning. Fortunately for me, I was behind Anakin, which meant I had a little more time than he did. This came in handy since it was next to impossible to do elaborate acrobatic moves in zero-g. But it also came in handy since I could move in ways that I usually couldn’t with gravity. I jumped off the wall and did a little spin and with a little bit more maneuvering, I dodged the worst of the shrapnel, but my helmet got a little banged up from a piece that flew just right.  
“Snips! You good?!” Anakin asked, attempting not to yell like last time. “Yeah! My helmet got a little scratched, but nothing else!” I said, panting a little from the adrenaline rush. “Alright, let’s keep moving. I don’t want to stand around when those thing are still here.” Anakin said, starting to move forward. I nodded and followed him towards where he saw the weird tentacle things. As we made our way up the hall, we were both on the lookout for anymore exploding lights, but it seemed like most of them weren’t even powered, let alone primed to explode again. Not that it made me feel better.  
We managed to float our way up to the hallway, but couldn’t find any tentacles. Or even evidence that they had been there. “You sure you saw them here? I don’t see anything.” I asked, slightly nervous from the close shave we had and I wasn’t anywhere ready to get peppered with metal. “Yes, Snips. I saw those things right here! They were disgusting looking!” He said vehemently. “Alright, alright, jeez! Calm down! I was just asking.” I said, holding my hands up in defense against his irritation. He didn’t even acknowledge me as he continued up the corridor. I couldn’t sense anything from him, but that didn’t mean much, he was an expert at disguising his emotions. The ease of which he did it made me jealous in fact, but that was beside the point at the moment. I’d have to have a discussion with Master Obi-wan about that later, for now; I had to focus on the task at hand.   
After the initial excitement with the near death and all that, the rest of the ship was oddly peaceful, besides the fact that there were no bodies, which would have made me less nervous. The ships computers were also oddly quiet. All of the doors seemed to be open already, which reminded me of a horror holomovie I watched a couple of days ago. Not that it was similar to this exact situation, but certainly close enough to give me the shivers. Anakin didn’t seem very upset by the fact that there were no bodies, but that didn’t mean much. It could have been exploding around him and he probably would still have that look on his face.  
After fifteen minutes of searching, we found an airlock door that had been welded shut. “This is a standard issue medical frigate, right?” I asked Anakin. “Yeah. This door shouldn’t be welded shut. This leads to the engines and life-support control. So it would make sense why the shut themselves up in here, but not why they welded the door shut. I don’t want to cut it open either.” He replied, staring at the door like he wanted it to magically open itself and reveal the secrets of the Force. “General Skywalker? Commander Tano? Do you read me?” Crackled Rex’s voice over our coms. Anakin seemed intent on figuring out a way to get into the Engine room and didn’t seem to hear Rex. “Yeah, Rex. We hear you. You boys ready for us?” I asked. “Affirmative, Commander. We’re coming in to the ship now. Anything out of the ordinary so far?” He asked. A minute passed and as Anakin wasn’t making any moves to say anything in response, I replied for him. “Anakin says he saw some of those weird tentacle things, but I haven’t seen anything yet. The only weird thing is that the door to the Engine and Life support systems has been welded shut.” I replied, slightly unnerved by Anakin’s silence. “Copy that, we have a little bit of heavy ordinance with us. Should be enough to blow open the door.” It was at that precise moment that Anakin keeled over briefly and then whipped around and stared down the corridor behind us. “No! We can’t open this door! We need to get out of here and blow this ship to dust, now!” He yelled grabbing me and throwing me down the hall. “Sir?! What do you mean? We just got here!” Rex said, shocked. “Never mind that, Rex! Get all troopers off this ship now! Do it!” He yelled as he dragged me back towards the breach we had come in from. I was completely shocked that his mood about the mission had changed so drastically in such a short time. “Anakin! What’s wro-“ I started asking before he cut me off. “Vision! There’s something behind that door that we cannot allow to get off the ship!” That answered literally none of my questions, but I didn’t feel like arguing as he was dragging me down a darkened, abandoned hallway.  
It was at that point that I felt the rumblings. Looking behind us I saw that corridor collapsing in on itself. It wasn’t rapid, but I could see bits of it flying towards the Engine and Life support rooms. I didn’t feel like arguing after that. “General Skywalker? Do you copy?” Came Admiral Yularen’s voice. “Little busy here, Admiral.” Anakin said through gritted teeth. “Sir, this is vital to the mission. The unidentified parasite is moving. It appears to be undocking from the wreckage and is moving towards the edge of the debris field. Shall we open fire on it?” The admiral asked. Anakin growled slightly, but managed to reply, even as he was both dodging pieces of metal flying towards us and dragging-slash-carrying me with him. “Blast it to bits, Admiral. Make sure it doesn’t escape the system!” “Very good sir. We’ll open fire on it as soon as you exit the wreckage.” Anakin was furious and getting angrier every second and it kinda showed in his response. “Frak it, Admiral! Shoot the damn thing now! Even if we get caught in the crossfire, you have to destroy that thing!” Even I could sense the annoyance coming from the Admiral, but I knew that he’d go through with the orders, not that I appreciated being on the receiving end of a barrage from a cruiser.   
Nor did I appreciate being carried like a piece of luggage. “Anakin! I know we’re running for our lives, but could you put me down for a second!? It gets very tiring to get carried around the entire mission!” I yelled at him. For what’s it worth, I’m pretty sure I blew the ears of the poor troopers who were on the same channel as us, but Anakin didn’t even flinch. “Commander Tano! Are you alright?” Came Rex’s voice. “Yeah, Rex. Anakin is just being over-protective aga-“ I was replying, right before the world exploded around us.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So uhh.. Remember when I said August? Neither do I.
> 
> I'm so sorry that it took me this long to get another chapter out everyone!! I had major writers' block on this and I was trying to get some things done before I settled in to really work on this! I hope this chapter makes up for some of my colossal mistakes... :C
> 
> Anyway, as always, please give me feedback and let me know what you think! I'm not really doing any of this for kudos, just as an outlet and for fun!


End file.
